Robert Zettle Ph.D.

Robert Zettle Ph.D.

Robert Zettle Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology

Clinical-Community Psychology Program · Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Jabara Hall Room 440
Main Campus

Overview

Lab: My lab is in the process of being shut down pending my upcoming retirement.

Education:
University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Ph.D., 1984
Bucknell University, M.A., 1976
Wilkes College, B.A., 1974

Current Instructor: Psychological Disorders and Human Suffering, Introduction to Clinical Psychology, Ethical and Professional Issues in Clinical Psychology

Academic Interests and Expertise

My current research investigates basic processes that contribute to psychological inflexibility and experiential avoidance and related therapeutic approaches and strategies, such as ACT, that seek to weaken such processes in order to alleviate human suffering.

Areas of Research Interest

Research Interests: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Processes that contribute to psychological flexibility/inflexibility

Publications

Recent Publications:

  1. Zettle, R. D. (2025). Acceptance and commitment therapy for depression. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 48, 467-477. 
  2. Zettle, R. D., Lyons, G.A., Larson, J. M., & Leonard, C. (2025). Psychometric properties of the Self-as-Context Scale with a university counseling sample. Behavioral Sciences, 15(7), 910. 
  3. Zettle, R. D., Larson, J. M., & Quan, H. (2025). Comparing the incremental validity of self-as-context-related measures. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 39, 150-158. 
  4. Aydin, Y., Uysal, A., Zettle, R. D., & Quan, H. (2024). Turkish adaptation of the Self-as-Context Scale: A preliminary examination of its psychometric properties. Journal of Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy and Research, 13, 229-237. 
  5. Lyons, G. A., Zettle, R. D., & Petts, R. A. (2024). Investigating determinants of client psychotherapy preference: An analogue study. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 38, 227-242. 
  6. Quan, H., & Zettle, R. D. (2023). The contribution of psychological inflexibility and metacognitive      processes to emotional distress. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 37, 63-81.  https://doi.org/10.1891/jcpsy-d-21-00014 
  7. Zettle, R. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2023). Progression of ACT. In M. P. Twohig, M. E. Levin, & J. M. Petersen (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of acceptance and commitment therapy (pp. 3-24). Oxford University Press.
  8. Zettle, R. D. (2023). Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) with depression. In P. Lucena-Santos, S. A. Carvalho, J. Pinto-Gouveia, M. S. Oliveira, & J. Pistorello (Eds.), Manual internacional de`Terapia de Aceitacao e Compromisso [International handbook of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy] (pp. 521-541). Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil: Sinopsys Editora.
  9. Zettle, R. D., & Masuda, A. (2022). The future of third wave cognitive behavior therapies. In W. O’Donohue & A. Masuda (Eds.), Behavior therapy: First, second, and third waves (pp. 781-803). Springer.
  10. Zettle, R.D., Hayes, S. C., Holmes-Barnes, D., & Biglan, A. (Eds.). (2016). The Wiley handbook of contextual behavioral science. Chichester, United Kingdom:  Wiley.